U.S. Secretary of State arrives in Riyadh for visit

RIYADH, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on Sunday as part of his regional tour.

Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a tweet that the U.S. top diplomat was received by Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir and Saudi Ambassador in Washington Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud.

Saudi Arabia is one of major stops in Pompeo's ongoing nine-nation Middle East tour that has already taken him to Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. He will also visit Oman and Kuwait after visit to Riyadh.

In an interview with Al Arabiya TV on Saturday, Pompeo talked about the importance of Saudi Arabia in achieving regional stability and other matters related to the Middle East stability.

His visit is the first by a top U.S. official since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who works for the Washington Post, in Istanbul, Turkey last October, which has strained the Saudi ties with Washington.

Speaking at a news conference in Doha, Qatar earlier Sunday, Pompeo said the journalist's murder was unacceptable, and he would seek new answers from the Saudi side during his visit.

The two sides are also expected to discuss ways to end the Qatari crisis, which has continued since June 2017 when a Saudi-led Arab coalition severed ties with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism. Qatar has strongly denied the claims.

On Sunday, Pompeo urged an end to the Gulf rift, which he said has only benefited their adversaries.